Telephone auto attendant systems are well known. They implement automatically various actions that might be performed by a switch board operator. Auto attendant systems can be implemented from a telephone system central office or, more commonly, in customer premises telephone systems with a private branch exchange (PBX).
The most common feature is call routing. For example, when a call is received by the PBX, an auto attendant system answers and plays a message such as "Enter 1 for Sales, 2 for Technical Support, or 3 for Administration;" or "please enter the extension number of the person you wish to talk to. If you do not know the extension, press 99 for a directory." When the requested information is entered, possibly after the caller listens to part or all of a directory, the call processor forwards the call to the designated extension. In this case, the auto attendant is routing the call in place of a live operator. Contemporary telephone systems can also accomplish automatic routing with direct inward dial (DID) or dialed number information services (DNIS).
Some auto attendant systems include a call screening feature which, after the extension is designated by the caller, asks the caller "May I say who is calling?," records any response by the caller, and plays the recording to the called party so the called party can decide whether to take the call. The called party then presses a key to take the call or presses another key to instruct the auto attendant system to play a recording like "Mr. Smith is unavailable, please leave a message . . . ," possibly followed by a further prompt to the calling party.
Some auto attendant systems include an auto forward feature. This feature is enabled by the extension owner, before leaving the extension. In the event a call is received, the auto forward feature instructs the auto attendant system to ring another extension that has been specified by the extension owner or to dial back out and connect the caller to the dialed line outside of the called party's telephone system. In some auto attendant systems, the extension owner may record a message to be played to callers before the call is forwarded.
Some auto attendant systems include a call blocking feature which allows the extension owner to instruct the auto attendant system to play a message to the caller, stating that the called party is not available, or to connect the caller to a voice mail system to leave a message.
Some auto attendant systems include a call holding feature which operates if the designated extension is busy. This feature gives the caller the option to be placed on hold and subsequently put through to the called party if the extension becomes available.
An auto attendant feature is included in some call waiting systems. When the extension owner's phone is busy, a call waiting tone interrupts the call, signalling the extension owner that he or she may press a key to forward the call to a preselected number or press another key to pass a busy signal to the caller.
Auto attendant systems in the prior art give the extension owner few options for handling incoming calls. The only options given to the extension owner by prior art auto attendant systems is accept or reject the call with call screening or to accept, reject, or forward to another number (typically voice mail) with call waiting.
With a live receptionist answering the telephones at a central switchboard instead of an auto attendant system routing calls or answering the telephones, many more options are possible than are available in the prior art. There is a need for auto attendant systems to give additional options to extension owners so that extension owners will find an auto attendant system an acceptable substitute for a live telephone receptionist.